Shades of Grey A KILLER7 STORY
by Takai Yukira
Summary: This is an earlier writing that I've decided would go nicely with the various personae of Killer7, one of the best games ever created. The first chapter is an OC introduction, so the personae will not actually show up until around the third chapter.
1. Chapter 1

_Where's that deity when you need him? _Kiah thought to herself as she raced frantically through the backyards of random strangers.

The lights were already turning on because of the noises she was causing. She cursed under her breath. They were going to catch up soon if he didn't hurry up and help her.

She kept running, her stamina lessening as she dodged people, who were starting to come out of their houses to see what was going on. _They have to _move_, _she suddenly realized, _or they'll be crushed by it_. She shoved people back into their houses, trying not to slow down at the same time.

"Hurry, get back into your houses!" she shouted back at the ones who still kept out. _They can't see it coming, _she remembered. She cursed again. It was already beginning on the first of the houses she had started through, but to the people she was warning, it was like everything exploded. The monster; the _thing_, was crashing through houses and people alike, ignoring its usual prey, concentrating completely on catching her, a grotesque smile ever-present on its face.

She stumbled, and it caught her scent. Damn! If she hadn't've slipped, it wouldn't have caught the scent through her aura. Of course, the aura was why it was following her in the first place, so either way she looked at it, it was coming for her. Except now she couldn't get away.

The root she had stumbled upon stubbornly hooked on her leg, refusing to detach itself. She struggled with the branch, while the thing got ever closer. It was too late, it was here.

It stopped in front of her, snuffling at the air for her scent. Its wide fugly eye focused on her general position, meaning it knew she had stopped. She sighed, and then stopped breathing, letting it attack her. Suddenly, Fafner was in front of her, repulsing the beast, sending out waves of energy that not only pushed the thing back, but also confused it.

"How is your energy level?!" He shouted back to her, and she got back up.

"Just fine, except for the fact that you made me wait until you got here before I could attack it!" she screamed back at him, and he yelled back,

"Well, now's your chance!" she rolled her eyes, half-exasperated, and pulled out a staff with hanging bells on it. The bells jingled through the air, suddenly making all noise stop, cutting through the creature's cries. The only sound was the bells, until Kiah slammed the staff, pole-vaulting style, into the single eye on the creature's huge face. The thing gave a last demented laugh, this time a cackle of death, and it was sucked into the staff, the energy making the wood pulse with power.

"Good job, Kiah." Fafner gasped, sinking to the ground and taking a deep breath.

"Don't rest just yet. Every one of these people just saw us." He gave her a tired look, but got up and announced to the people watching in fear and surprise, "Hello, friends. If I could have your full attention…" As if they didn't already. They must have the attention of the entire continent by now.

He spoke then in a different language, and the people all slumped to the ground, to wake in the morning to wonder why the heck they had fallen asleep in their backyards. Kiah turned to him.

"Sometimes I wonder why you even put up with me and my monster-hunting." He shook his head as she stored the staff in her pocket, miniaturizing it.

"Me, too." She slugged him, but he shrugged it off.

"Any other signals tonight?" he yawned, and she shoved him to the ground.

"You're a deity. You don't yawn. Stop pretending." He grinned impishly, and said, "Well?" she shook her head.

"I don't sense any more presences. Let's call it a day. Or night, or whatever." He nodded, then disappeared as Kiah started back toward her underground hideout. She found her way back to desolate Toledo, giving a sigh at of relief at the familiar, though extremely shady, surroundings.

Toledo, her birth town, one of the few cities who had survived the attacks of the things.

She wandered casually into a bar, and then waved to the bartender as she ducked behind the bar and stomped on the odd-colored floorboard. It rose up to reveal a cabinet behind the shelves of alcohol, and she stooped her head to go in. it was dark for a minute, until she heard Coir's voice.

"Smog doesn't show in the daytime-"

"-only out here it does," she quipped, completing their password which made absolutely no sense to anyone but Coir.

"Welcome back, Kiah." Coir said, and the empty panel in front slid forward to admit her into the underground lab. Coir was still at the computer, but he turned as soon as she entered.

"How many signals did you pick up?" he inquired, business-like.

"Eight."

"Out of that number, how many did you completely obliterate into the eighteenth dimension?" he asked, breaking into peals of laughter as his business tone was shattered.

"All eight, you straight-faced baboon. Fafner's already back in the spirit world." Coir turned back to his computer.

"Lazy deity."

Kiah shook her head. "Don't let Lumè hear you say that," she warned.

"Too late. What did you say, Coir?" Lumè stepped out of the elevator installed into the wall, followed by Treo and Mëm.

"We just said that he'd gone back to the spirit plane." Kiah said.

"Liar, liar, and you know it."

Treo grinned and quoted, "He who calls his brother a liar is in danger of burning in the pits of hell." Lumè turned on him ferociously.

"I'm not a guy, and Coir's not my brother, thank god, so you can go burn yourself."

Mëm stayed silent, listening to the conversation with her blind eyes focused in one spot. She was the only one not joking around, but for her that was to be expected.

Coir glanced at the clock above his computer. It was no ordinary clock, not like the ones the normal civilians seemed to prefer these days; the stupid ones that only told you the time.

_What's the point of time, anyway?_ Kiah asked herself. _It's just another creation of man to control one another._ Her silent criticism was interrupted by Coir's sigh of defeat.

"It'll never be the same around here without Ratec." He muttered, and everyone nodded.

Ratec had been their main man, the one running and organizing all their operations. He had been recently killed by one of the creatures, leaving his brother Coir to take over. What reminded Coir of his dead brother was the clock, which was a memorial plaque that also served as an informant as to whether any of the members were dead. Ratec himself had created it, so that anyone killed in the line of duty or anywhere else would be able to let his fellow members know. All nine of the hands had been created from little carved bones from when they hadn't the staff to use the monsters for power, and they actually had to kill the things. That had been almost impossible, since the things were almost immortal. It took a hell of a lot of bullets to shoot them down, and other weapons often proved ineffectual. Ratec had been the one to create almost all of their technology, most of the weapons, the trackers, and even the little things, like improvements on the storage facility. When he's died a couple months ago, they'd held a funeral service for his spirit, since his body had been completely devoured.

Eight of the bone-hands were pointing toward the bottom of the clock, but the little bone marked with an 'R' pointed upward. That had been Ratec's hand. Kiah shook her eyes away and turned to the screen in front of Coir. He glanced at her, then turned back to his screen, beginning a scan.

"You ought to get that leg checked out." He said, gesturing at her blood-caked ankle.

"And _you_ ought to help us with the monsters." He grimaced.

"You know I can't do that. My sixth sense isn't strong enough to track them or fight them. I can only see them."

Treo smirked. "Or so that's your excuse for staying in here while we fight."

Coir looked at him, and Treo shut up. Coir may have been the techie for their unit, but he certainly wasn't the big, sweaty nerd one would expect. Sure, he was pale, but he had piercing green cat's eyes and glossy black hair that always seemed to be in front of one eye.

Treo was his perfect opposite, tanned and brown-eyed with blonde hair. They were constantly snapping at each other, but if it got personal, they automatically stopped the pestering, a sign of their long-lasting friendship.

Lumè, however, didn't stop pestering people unless commanded, and sometimes even then she didn't stop. She had had her family eaten by the creatures, which explained her deep-running hatred of them. That was the only thing all of them had in common; a mutual hatred of the creatures and a goal to destroy them. Lumè was extremely hyperactive, and she insisted that Fafner was her soul mate, which was the probably the cause of him avoiding her constantly. She had the darkest skin, with flaming red hair that made her crimson eyes clash and burn.

Kiah herself felt overwhelmed by Mëm's beauty, despite Mëm being the ultimate in loners. She might have been blind, but her milky eyes only enhanced her features. She had frost-white hair and translucent skin, but she dressed all in black to tone down her pallid features. Kiah might have been slightly jealous of Mëm's looks, but she herself didn't look bad. She had violet eyes, a rare occurrence that was probably the cause of her ability to see the things, and her blue hair was silky, long and wavy down to her shoulders.

The last two of their unit, as they called it, were Abrena and Siven, and they were currently on a mission to a hot spot where the creatures were gathering in large groups. The threat was dying down, but there was still work for them to be done, and Coir estimated that they had at least another night to finish up.

Siven had an attitude to match Treo's jocular personality, and the only reason they put up with him was because of two reasons: he was one of the best fighters they had, and he had been a close friend of Ratec's.

The yellow-eyed, silver-haired demon Abrena had been paired with Siven because his blue eyes and golden hair attracted a lot of attention when they traveled, and Abrena's mastery of disguises was handy for keeping things under control. Blue eyes had been seen as devils' eyes since the twenty-eighth century, when the things started appearing, and they had a mysterious reaction to anyone with blue eyes, almost a reverent response. Siven, of course, denied any connection to the factor, but he did have a problem with Mëm, who had supposedly had blue eyes before she was blinded by the creatures. She wouldn't say anything on the subject, no matter who pressured her.

Their powers were all at varying levels, from Coir's inability to fight, ranging all the way to Mëm and Siven's prowess to capture or kill the grinning creatures by themselves, no partner at all. Even with all the work they could get done working individually, they had all agreed that partners were the best recourse. The partners system hadn't gone into effect until Coir created it when his brother died on an individual mission. Kiah was paired with their only deity Fafner, Abrena with Siven, Treo with Mëm, and Lumè worked at the hideout with Coir, protecting it if the monsters ever got smart enough to attack their base of operations, which Coir predicted they eventually would. Lumè often complained about having the most boring job, but she was secretly pleased because her weapon was extremely bulky and she hated having to lug it around when not fighting. Staying at the base was perfect for her. Coir finished up his scan and turned to them.

"I haven't gotten any word from Siven or Abrena, but they seem to be fine. Treo, how did your missions go?" he grinned, his white teeth glistening.

"Absolutely wonderful. I—I mean, of course, we—bagged eleven of the buggers." He grinned, glancing at Mëm, who really didn't mind his misuse of pronouns. Coir grinned along with him, his eyes glittering.

"When Unit One get back, we can _really_ dent those suckers." Each pairing was nicknamed a unit number for simple reasons; security over transmission lines for one thing, plus it was a lot shorter than saying 'Abrena and Siven.' Unit two was Mëm and Treo, and Unit Three was Kiah and Fafner. They each carried radios for crises, and that had worked fairly well.

Coir's computer beeped, and a small envelope icon flashed to the front of his screen, blipping at him impatiently until he opened it. He clicked the message.

"It's from Siven, speak of the devil. He sent it by Urgenmail, though…"

Urgenmail was the fastest form of email they had, and it was annoying as heck when there was work to be done. It kept flashing in front of any windows open, and wouldn't go away until it was opened. It was often used by spammers and virus spreaders to ensure that messages were read.

Siven's face popped into blurry view as Coir clicked the envelope, and a static voice, out of sync with the mouth, began speaking.

"Abrena and I shall be home within the night, so don't bother worrying—wipe that grin off your face, Treo—and save me some food, I'm starving. Shuret's got some of the worst food. Siven out, Abrena in." he ducked out of the way as Abrena's yellow demon eyes flashed into view. She grinned. "The action died down soon as we arrived, so it was small potatoes to waste the rest of the creatures, qeta no? To quote Siven, 'We'll be home within the night.' Or somethin' like that. Never did pay attention to the prick." They heard an off-screen 'Hey!' as Abrena waved and the screen went blank.

Lumè laughed.

"Siven _is _a prick; he's rather full of himself," she giggled, and Treo grinned.

"I find it funny how he knows exactly what I'm doing even though that message had no two-way feed."

Kiah had felt something weird as soon as that message arrived but she couldn't place it. Something wasn't right about that video feed… Mëm spoke up, confirming her suspicion. Her melodic icy voice cut their laughter immediately. When Mëm spoke, which was rarely, everybody listened instantly, because the things she had to say were always important.

"Did anyone else hear what was in the background of the feed?" the silence in the room seemed to echo with her statement. Treo and Lumè shook their heads in unison, and Coir was already trying to replay the Urgenmail. It was destroyed, the link to the video stating that the file for that link could not be found, do you want to search for it manually?

"Odd…and there's also the fact that this was Urgenmail, and all they sent was a report on their whereabouts. What _did_ you hear, Mëm?" She blinked, her eyes completely focused on Coir despite her milky pupils.

"A laugh. One of _their_ laughs. Whoever was sending that message, it wasn't Abrena or Siven."

Kiah's breath caught in her throat painfully, like she had just swallowed too much at once.

"I'm calling their video two-ways right now, just to make sure." Lumè was biting her lip.

"Mëm's hearing's sharper than even the monsters. She's never been wrong before."

Another icon, this time a ringing telephone, signified that Coir's message was transmitting to their video two-ways, the two-way camera messages they carried for live reports. Siven picked up, his face confused when he saw it was really Coir.

"Something wrong, Coir?" Coir listened closely for a second, and answered carefully, "Actually, are _you_ guys okay?" Siven looked at him like he was insane, and Abrena said in the background, "S'at Coir?" Siven turned back to her and nodded.

"We're fine. Didn't you receive that message we sent you?" Coir looked relieved, glancing back at Mëm, who was listening as intently as he had been. She didn't notice his glance.

"Yeah, we did. Mëm thought she heard something…else…in your message, so we had to check in on you guys." Siven's face momentarily distorted, his eyes turning briefly red and his mouth twisting into a misshapen smile, but it snapped back into place with a small static fuzz.

"Oh, that's all. I thought the things had attacked the base, or something." He said, laughing uneasily. Siven turned to Mëm on the screen, and said, fake-sniffling, "You really don't have faith in me, do you, Mëm?" she smiled briefly, but it was extremely fake and insincere. She was troubled.

"There seems to be a break-up in the transmission." Siven said worriedly as his appearance warped again, and Coir nodded.

"See you when you get back."

He quickly ended the transmission, turning to Mëm.

"I didn't hear what you heard, but there were several things that tipped me off. You were right, that is _not _Siven. First of all, Ratec's technology does _not_ glitch or break up like that. Second, he never calls Mëm by her name, remember?" Treo nodded, his face growing surprised as he remembered.

"Yeah, he always calls her 'little one.'" Mëm's eyes flicked toward him momentarily (it was rather evident she detested that nickname), but she continued on Coir's sentence, "And third, he also doesn't call the monsters anything but 'bastards.' That imposter called them 'things.'"

Lumè hesitated, deep in thought. As she lifted her head, Coir announced, "Unit two and three, head to Shuret immediately. Take equipment packs D, two, and three, take a C pack."

Kiah shook her staff, and Fafner appeared beside her, ready for action. Lumè didn't even glance at Fafner, knowing it was not the time.

The four of them, Mëm, Treo, Kiah, and Fafner, headed to the weapons storage rooms. Treo was the only one who grabbed a weapon from the closet labeled 'D,' and Unit three unlocked the C door. Coir had efficiently organized all their biggest weapons into five classifications, A, B, C, D, and Specialized. D were the least powerful weapons, C the next weakest, and so on. Specialized were the _big_ guns, and they hadn't ever been needed because Coir felt that their missions had no use for such destructive weapons. They had been developed not by Ratec alone, but with a certain someone in their group who had chosen not to reveal themselves. So basically, only one person alive actually knew how they worked or even what they looked like, and that person had obviously decided they could make do with the other four classifications of weapons. The arsenal was pretty gigantic even without Specialized. When I say _Coir_ felt that they had no use, it was really a lie, because whether or not he thought they were needed was irrelevant. The key to the Specialized door lay with the anonymous person who had been close enough to Ratec to develop the weapons.

Kiah always felt amazed when she walked into _any_ of the arsenal closets, because even the D closet was full of gadgetry and artillery that would make James Bond himself feel faint. C closet was, of course, a step up. Kiah selected a Blossomb, a compact little flower bomb that held enough power to short out Shuret, and an Arc Shell (besides her staff, those were her favorite little buggers), which released an electric shock in a wide beam around the user, sending each killer spark to the next object the targets happened to brush. It was a deadly little piece of metal.

The last thing she snapped up was the prototype Phantom. Coir hadn't gotten around to drawing names to see who would the test the palm-sized globe, though he had briefly explained the effects of Phantom to them. It didn't do much damage to the enemy, but it set up a barrier around the target(s) and temporarily deprived them of all senses. Sight, hearing, touch, taste, and scent were overloaded, and it was up to the user of Phantom to decide exactly what to do with the target or targets then. Since most of the weapons were developed primarily for battling the monsters, the decision was never debated for very long.

None of the others would be very happy with her after they realized she'd been the one to snatch the Phantom and try it out, but it just might save their lives.

Fafner grabbed his one weapon that he stored in the closet, a gun about the caliber of a .42, but its effect was much different than a normal gun. Instead of bullets, the precious little item spit out sharp little metal stakes, designed to puncture and filled with deadly poison.

Fafner and Kiah chased after Mëm and Treo, who were already lifting off in the Phoenix Wing, and they jumped on at the last minute. Treo was at the wheel, and he closed the back hatch as Unit three made it on. Mëm sat tensely in the back, listening to Coir as he briefed them from inside the little video transmit they kept in the copter.

"Base to Units two and three, you read me?" Treo kept his hands on the steering controls and his eyes on the skies, and Kiah slid into the second pilot's seat, slipping the headset on.

"Phoenix Wing, Units two and three, we read you. Any ideas on who might have our friends?"

Coir looked away from their screen, turning to his computer.

"An idea, and only an idea. The monsters, obviously, but it seems the hotspot they were gathering at was an old cathedral site. There've been alleged reports on the things joining at sites such as these and joining into one massive entity, but the reports were never investigated because they came from crackpots in insane asylums who went mad from the sight."

Fafner looked over Kiah's shoulder at Coir.

"So basically, people like us that didn't understand what the things were?" Coir nodded.

"Correct. It would seem like the mad people are correct, also, because these two creatures that've taken Unit one captive are much more intelligent than any of the ones we've encountered. They're capable of human speech, transformation, and have a basic knowledge of electrical devices. I take satisfaction in the fact that Abrena and Siven probably broke up their literal 'get-together' because those two aren't as strong as they could be. They couldn't hold the transformations very well, remember? Still, as strong as they could be but aren't, I don't envy you this mission."

Fafner spoke up, his voice carrying to the mike so that Coir could hear. "So what do you propose we do if these things are so much stronger than they usually are?" Coir bit his lip, glancing at his computer.

"I can't think of a plan for you, because I really don't know all the circumstances. You guys are going to have to scout these guys and get back to me. Then I devise a nice little plot to get Unit one back. Base, over and out."


	2. Chapter 2

Coir's visage disappeared from the screen, leaving Kiah feeling numb and confused. The genius had forgotten to mention one thing; the location of the monsters. She discussed it with Fafner and Mëm, mostly Fafner, as Mëm didn't input much, and they pulled out one of the holo-maps. Fafner input the coordinates of Shuret, and coded all the cathedrals in the place. Seven places showed up, but only two of them were still standing.

"Coir said they were gathering at an _old_ cathedral site, so those two there are ruled out."

He nodded, seeing the logic. He punched the keypad a couple times, and the remaining five swirled in the slowly revolving map. Kiah got an idea.

"Center on Holo-map site one," she commanded, and the map read her voice commands, noting the treble and frequency. It read negative, and Kiah glanced at Fafner, the only one besides Coir who could control these things without bringing it all down around his holy ears. Fafner grinned guiltily.

"Bring up Holo-map sites, center on site one." The map immediately registered his voice and brought up the former cathedral site. There was an industrial building built on top of it.

"Tell it to scan for unusual energy spots."

The holo-map read her voice negative even then, and she scowled. Fafner waved at her to signal to be quiet if she didn't want that to happen.

"Scan for abnormal readings." They couldn't scan the entire city because the space was too large, and besides, the holo-map recorded every little tiny bit of abnormal energy, including electrical devices, thermals from humans and animals, and, of course, the monsters. The holo-map scanned the site, coming up with a radio and several rats.

"Center on site two." The area had been paved over, and a scan showed nothing signifying creature activity. Neither did three or four, which were ruined and eroding. Site five, however, had a similar appearance to third and fourth, but there was a spike in 'Other' activity.

"It's the site, no doubt about it." Fafner muttered, and gave the coordinates to Treo. They were nearing Shuret, which was at least six hundred miles from base. Coir was proud of the Phoenix Wing just because of the fact that it was so fast, and the other members certainly valued it for this reason as well. Kiah noticed something that made her heart skip a beat. It was so absorbing she didn't even notice when the holo-map obeyed her. "Bring up grid point 44." There was some kind of symbol on the ground in the site, but the green gridlines didn't show it properly.

"Scan color and depth. Bring up coordinates 4.6 and 13." The holo-map quickly scanned across, the gridlines turning into a perfect map of the area, giving color and shape to everything. Then it brought up the grid sect she'd been looking at. It was a giant cross, written by the monsters in what looked to be ash, and Kiah felt mesmerized slightly as she traced over the cross's pattern with her eyes. "Hey, Fafner. Found something." He was immediately by her side, gazing at the cross. "That must be their unity cross, where they join entities." He murmured, and the Phoenix Wing reared up as Treo prepared for a landing.

"What are you doing, Treo? We're not even near the site," Fafner said over the ship's landing fires.

"We can't get any closer, or they'll realize we're here. This is only a stake-out right now, remember?" Fafner was about to say something, probably 'Oh,' but at that second, the Phoenix Wing landed with a huge thump that threw everybody but Mëm and Treo to the back of the ship.

"Are we going to use the hologuise or just sneak around like spies?" Kiah said half-sarcastically.

"The hologuises will probably be detected by our own stuff. Remember that they have Siven and Abrena's tech? Coir equipped it with the hologuise penetration." Treo said, and they nodded.

"Then should we take weapons?"

Fafner was the one who answered this time. "We can't take any metal, but Kiah can take her staff and Treo can take his arrow amplifier, but that's it. We'll even have to leave our communications and armor in the ship." Kiah began unloading her weapons she'd packed, and Fafner put down his gun reluctantly. That gun was his baby, his only physical weapon.

Treo laid down all the armor and weapons he'd packed, which were quite a few, and Mëm sat silently, waiting for them. She never carried much metal on her, except for her sword, and that was currently being repaired because she'd killed an acidic monster with it, almost melting the blade.

They quietly stepped out of the ship, careful to check for the creatures even this far out. They neared the site, and as soon as Kiah came within sight of the unity cross, she felt the crushing aura of the creatures, only much stronger than any they had ever encountered before. They gathered behind an old wall, and Fafner and Treo glanced around the corner. Both of them turned back around, pale.

"They're there, all right. Dozens of them. I didn't see the two most powerful ones, though, the imposters." Fafner said, and Treo shook his head.

"We need to split up, because we _must_ find out where those two, or more, are residing so that Coir can get us a plan." He said, and Kiah nodded.

"Mëm, you and Kiah are the fastest, so you two can go and scout out the big ones." Kiah briefly thought about making a comment on how cowardly they were, but decided against it as Mëm was already dashing from behind the wall. Kiah ducked low and ran after her, leaving the protective wall behind. They stopped behind another ruin, Kiah breathing hard.

"So far, so good. The guys'll be covering our backs from their spot, and we have to find the big monsters." Mëm merely nodded, getting ready to dash out again. Kiah only had the faintest idea of how she could be so quick and know exactly when to run when she was blind, and it had to do with her heightened senses and the vibrations. She always got lost if it was explained to her. She watched Mëm duck behind shelter again, and waited for her own chance. She couldn't know without looking, so she took her own peek around the corner. She saw immediately why Treo and Fafner had turned pale. There were at least twenty-eight of the things out there, most of them normal-sized, but a couple hunkering over the rest like skyscrapers. None of the units hardly ever had to fight the huge ones, because they were powerful, but stupid enough to get into territory fights and blow each other up.

She waited until the way was clear and raced next to Mëm. She looked around the corner and was taken aback. She found herself looking at Abrena and Siven. They had been bound to crosses like some morbid crucified sacrifices, and both looked barely alive. She turned back to Mëm.

"Are they…dead?" Mëm shook her head.

"Not at all. They'll recover quickly if we can get them out—"she cut off in mid-sentence, inhaling sharply. "Look over again. I can feel the big ones." Kiah peered over the corner again, and sure enough, there were Siven and Abrena, still on the crosses, but in front of them were copies of themselves.

"Are you still not willing to give up the location of the rest of your partners, human?" the one imitating Abrena growled to Siven's form. The monster slapped him hard so that he woke, and she repeated the question. "Hmph…never…" he chuckled weakly, a hint of his former arrogance still in his voice, and Kiah felt a warm rush of gratitude for Siven.

"You think your heroics will save you? Or maybe your friends?" imposter Siven asked, waking Abrena at the same time.

"Like we'll…tell you…anythin'." She muttered, her yellow eyes turning up to meet eyes of the exact same color and shape.

"You will. Yes, you will. It's only a matter of time before your bodies break and you give in."

Abrena gave a feeble but mocking laugh. "You haven't studied humans enough, have ya? Our bodies are already at their limits. Anymore, and you'll kill us."

Imposter Siven picked up her own weapon, as if he were going to threaten her with it. He skipped threatening completely and drew the daggers, stabbing her in each shoulder. She merely laughed, making them even angrier. Imposter Abrena growled, her form giving out. She turned back into her original form, a deep red monster with a hideous smile stretching across its sickening face. It swiped a clawed misshapen hand against Siven's cheek, sending blood spraying.

"We'll be back later, and I hope by then you'll have decided more wisely." It rasped in gravelly harsh tones that sounded as if it had gargled with razor blades. It bounded off, Imposter Siven turning after her. Kiah made a move to rush to her beaten friends, but Mëm stopped her.

"We are only scouting, remember? We can't handle any of these monsters without a plan of attack. We have to wait. Let me listen and hear where the big ones are going." Mëm listened, Kiah as silent as possible, and finally she opened her useless eyes.

"I know where they are. We can go back to the ship." Kiah nodded, and they began the careful sprint back to their waiting comrades.

"Did you find them?" asked Treo, and Kiah smiled evilly, feeling starved for violence.

"Which one? We found _everyone_." They went back to the ship; Treo automatically starting for the communicator.

"Phoenix Wing to Base, do you read me?"

No answer, no reassuring crackles from Coir's side.

"This is Unit two, finishing the stake-out of the old cathedral site." Just as Kiah began to worry, Coir appeared, looking dazed.

"Yeah? Oh, yeah. You finished. Plan; plan…" he said, disappearing again temporarily.

"You okay, Coir?" Treo said, and he reappeared, looking less stunned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just…found something out." Treo glanced back at Fafner and Kiah shrugging.

"What is it?"

He shook his head. "It's not important now. Right now, Unit one retrieval is most important. How many big ones were there?"

Mëm spoke up. "Only the two, but I counted forty-two complete auras around the entire site and in town." The regular monsters. Kiah had forgotten about them.

"Alright, this should be a lot easier. Send me a layout of the site with hotspots marked." Mëm one-upped him, drawing out the entire map, giving Siven and Abrena's location, the big ones' locations, and moving holo-dots of all the regulars. It was an amazing map. She sent the file to Coir, but kept a copy of it open on the floor display screen. Coir looked it over, impressed with the tracking dots.

"Awesome, Mëm, this'll come in handy for both me and you." He examined it a couple more seconds, reappearing on the screen looking happy.

"All four of you have your separate jobs. Here's the deal. Treo, you stay at the wheel of the Phoenix, ready for medical emergencies." Treo raised an eyebrow.

"I was expecting you to say 'Get ready for a quick escape.'"

Coir shook his head. "Nope. You won't need one, because Mëm'll take care of all the regular creatures. She'll also be the first one the monsters will see. Unit three will free Siven and Abrena while Mëm serves as distraction. Then unit three will take unit one back to the ship and return to help Mëm beat the last of them."

Kiah nodded, impressed. It was a good, simple plan.

"Just one problem, Coir," Fafner said, and Coir looked at him from the screen. "What about our weapons? We can't use any armor or weapons because they have unit one's stuff." Coir grinned.

"Here's the tricky but cool part. I'll deactivate all machinery for two minutes, or at least until Mëm reaches the site and can serve as a distraction. That way, you can put on all the communications and armor you need, because by the time they'll be able to detect you, they'll have their hands full dealing with Mëm, so they won't have enough time to see you and Kiah help Siven and Abrena out." They nodded. "Put on the shard-radios so that I can see exactly what's going on in case something goes wrong."

The shard-radios were tiny little one-way microphones and cameras that allowed Coir to see exactly what they saw and give them instructions from his computer. They were one of the many things he had invented to make him at least participate in field missions. Mëm, Fafner, and Kiah all grabbed a radio after stocking up on their weapons again.

"Okay, Coir, power off."

He obliged, and their connection went dead. So did their weapons, communication, and the Phoenix Wing itself. In the midst of the dark Mëm found the door, letting light in.

"Let's get going."

The three of them slipped out the door, leaving Treo in the dark. They neared the site, and Mëm went off in her own direction. She made her way back to the original wall they had used for shelter, and Coir waited until unit three had reached unit one before he switched the power back on again. There were roars as the monsters realized Mëm was there, and she quickly glided out from behind the wall, beginning her assault on the monsters single-handedly. Kiah directed her shard-radio's camera at Siven and Abrena, waiting for Coir's signal.

"Okay, the map's clear. All the monsters have begun fighting Mëm. Go!"

Fafner and Kiah darted out from their cover, each of them going for a target. As they began untying the ropes binding them to the crosses, Siven and Abrena woke up.

"Fafner! Kiah!"

Kiah silenced them with a frantic shake of the head, gesturing toward the fight between Mëm and the monsters. Siven's eyes grew wide, and they were quiet as they were freed. Kiah and Fafner carried them back to the ship, where Treo immediately sedated them and began medical treatment.

"Unit three here, targets acquired. Heading for site one to join Mëm."

Coir answered back with, "Be careful. The big ones haven't come out yet. I don't know what they're playing at, but they're not anywhere near our equipment, so I suspect they're somehow sleeping through this. Mëm is almost done with the regulars."

Fafner and Kiah quickly joined the brawl, finishing off the last dozen cackling monsters. Mëm wasn't even breathing hard, but she had blood on her; whether it was the monsters' or hers, Kiah didn't know.

"Objective complete." Kiah panted, and Coir said to all three of them, "The big ones are still in the cathedral ruins to your right. Careful." They slowly made their way around to the back of the cathedral ruins, and Fafner looked in one of the windows cautiously. He turned back, mouth open in shock. "It's a trap!" he yelled, just as the creatures came flooding out in a torrent. They were only regulars, but there were at least two hundred, and the imposter monsters were grinning as they watched the ambush.

"You didn't know we'd altered the machinery, did you? We knew all along your machinery was still controlled by the main panel, so we just modified the equipment a bit."

They ignored them, too busy battling their minions. Kiah barely avoided being blown up by one of the things, and as she impaled one of the smaller flying things, she thought of something.

"Fafner, lend me a bullet!"

He quickly jumped back, unloading a single cartridge from his gun and tossing it to her without questioning. She quickly jammed the Arc Shell with the cartridge, and then, dodging claws, she bit one of the wires of the Blossomb, running it into the end of the lodged bullet.

"Cover your mouths!" she screamed to her companions, and threw the makeshift weapon. It exploded, but not in the way it was ever intended by its creator. The Arc Shell went off first, sending out the electricity, but it was mixed with the poison from Fafner's bullet, meaning the lightning was as poisonous as a pit of vipers. The voltage spread from one monster to the next, first electrocuting them and then sending a shock of fatal venom through their ugly distorted bodies. Almost all of them exploded in a series of blasts when the shock had faded. Then the last effect hit. The Blossomb connected to the cartridge burst as the last of the energy spread through the last of the poison in the bullet, causing a massive explosion that, true to its title, blossomed out, enveloping them all in its lethal yellow-blue blast. Kiah felt her ears pop, and she curled up in a ball, trying to cover up both her ears and eyes. When the dust cleared, she slowly opened her eyes. Fafner was blinking, astonished, in the bright sunlight, and Mëm was already up, surveying the damage. The cathedral ruins, or what had been left in the first place, had been razed over, leveled completely. Kiah laughed, getting up and cheering. There was blood and dismemebered limbs everywhere, and they would have to get rid of them, but for now the job was done. They had rescued their teammates and gotten rid of every single one of the creatures.

She heard Coir say in her shard-radio, "Don't start cheering yet!"

At the same time, Kiah was thrown several feet into the air and then backwards, landing hard on the unforgiving stone of the cathedral. She looked up, pain wracking her ribs. There, standing before her, was one of the big ones. She didn't know whether it had been one of the imposters, because it was now back in its original form, a scarlet beast with a two huge claws and the trademark enormous grin. She glanced at her comrades; Fafner was cornered by a cackling monster that moved faster than she'd ever seen them move, and Mëm was warily moving around a third one; this monster had red and deep purple splotches, no legs, and chilling scythes attached to each arm .

"Yes, little human, there were three of us all along. But you and your overestimating will cost you dearly. Your life, in fact, will be the price." With these gravelly, fairly cheesy words, the monster leapt at her. As if on cue, his buddies began lumbering (or floating, in Mëm's monster's case) toward their prey as well. Kiah, on instinct, began dodging the creature even though she knew it was hopeless. _Come on, brilliant ideas_, she thought to herself, _Save us. _She knew she had used up her little luck, though, and continued avoiding the monster's advances frantically. The creature swiped at her, and she was surprised as the disgusting thing turned white with spirit power and struck her across the chest. She jumped back, trying to hold all the blood in with one hand. She glanced again at her compatriots. Mëm was blocking the beast more easily than her, but she wasn't getting in any good blows, either. Fafner was shooting bullet after bullet at the creature, but they weren't hitting because his monster was dodging at an inhuman speed, taunting him and striking him softly each time, just to show him it was toying with him. None of them were doing well, and the fact that these monsters were still laughing and not exploding was a very, very bad thing.

"You don't really think you have time to watch them, do you?" her monster asked, diving at her and striking again, this time clawing her shoulder brutally. She stumbled back in pain, and landed on her back. Her monster laughed, a grating sound that made her shrink back. She felt something push against her back. She rolled over, pulling it out. It was the Phantom. The idea she had been hoping for came to her.

"Fafner, Mëm! Gather into the center with me!" she yelled to them, and the monsters turned.

"Like we're going to let you execute your plan." The yellow-and-orange beast snarled, and all three of them moved to the inside, blocking their passage to the center. Perfect. Kiah pulled out the tiny key, and tossed the Phantom into the center, between all three of the creatures. It exploded, and a huge half-sphere encompassed them completely, and they froze, lost in the confusion of the loss of their senses.

"Move quickly, I don't know how long it lasts!" Kiah screamed at them, and the three of them finished off their creatures.

"God, it's finally o—"

"Move, Kiah!" cried Fafner, and Kiah turned to see another big one, poised over her, ready to kill. Then it was dead, blood running from the single red spot on its forehead, and it laughed one last time before blowing up in a blast of red. It had been shot. Kiah, Fafner, and Mëm turned to see Siven, standing with Abrena, and he had his gun out, smoke still coming from the muzzle.

"Yes, little bastard, there were six of us all along. You and your overestimating will cost you dearly." Kiah cheered, and then she collapsed.

"Kiah?!" Fafner cried, running to her side. Her view blurred in and out of focus as she heard Abrena murmur, "She's lost a lot of blood. We need to carry her back to Phoenix." Then she blacked out.

She woke back in the base, with Coir and Abrena standing over her. "Oy, she's awake," Abrena said in her heavy accent. Coir brightened as she blinked to clear her vision.

"How's everybody?" she muttered, her mouth incredibly parched.

"Everyone's fine. Siven and Abrena's wounds were superficial because of Abrena's heal-field, so you received the worst damage." Siven shoved to her side.

"No fair, Kiah! You got to try out the Phantom!" Fafner pushed in beside him.

"But it saved all of us, that and the crude triple combo." Lumé threw them both out of the way, hugging her. Surprisingly, she didn't feel a jolt of pain from her wounds.

"That was some awesome thinking, Kiah!" she cheered, and Treo squeezed in, grinning.

"I'm smart enough to have done the same thing, but Coir just _had_ to stick me with medical techie." Mëm stayed where she was, at the other side of them room, silent and deep in contemplation.

"You can get up now, your wounds weren't bad enough for Abrena to not be able to heal them."

She sat up, blood rushing to her head.

"Whoa…"

"You'll be dizzy the next coupla hours, tema? I had to give ya a blood transfusion, so the blood's takin' its sweet heavenly time working into ya system." She grinned, and then they all backed off as she got up.

"Thanks, Abrena. I feel good as new." She waved, her golden eyes glowing warmly.

"S'no problem."

"We got all the big ones in the place, and were fortunate enough to handle _all_ the little ones as well. We got lucky this time, because those guys certainly were a much bigger deal than our usual missions," Coir said, leaning against the wall. Treo shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts.

"Hey, Coir what was it you found out? You said it wasn't important and we'd talk about it when we got back?"


End file.
